Europe Braces For Another Covid Wave As Booster Drive Sees Tepid Start, Hospitalisations Up

Despite Covid cases declining globally, WHO data showed that infections in the European Union reached 1.5 million last week, up 8 per cent from the previous week.

With the onset of winter season and tepid response among citizens in taking the booster dose, Europe is bracing for a new Covid-19 wave. Public health experts have warned that booster uptake has been constrained in Europe due to vaccine fatigue and confusion over types of available vaccines, Reuters reported.

Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told Reuters, "For those who may be less concerned about their risk, the messaging that it is all over coupled with the lack of any major publicity campaign is likely to reduce uptake."

According to the Reuters report, Omicron subvariants BA.4/5 are behind the majority of infections in Europe but newer Omicron subvariants are also gaining ground.

Despite Covid cases declining globally, WHO data showed that infections in the European Union reached 1.5 million last week, up 8 per cent from the previous week. There has been a dramatic fall in testing as well. 

Hospitalisation rates have shot up in several of the 27-nation bloc's member states, as well as Britain.

According to statistics published by the independent scientific foundation Gimbe, Covid-19 hospital admissions increased by around 32 per cent in Italy in the week ending on October 4 and ICU admissions were up by almost 21 per cent.

Hospitalisations for COVID in Britain increased by 45 per cent in the same week compared to the previous week.

Since September, Omicron-adapted vaccines have been made accessible in Europe alongside first-generation vaccines. Only the BA.1-tailored vaccine doses have been approved for use in Britain.

The most recent booster doses have only been approved for use in select groups of people, including the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, as per European and British regulators.

Penny Ward, visiting professor in pharmaceutical medicine at King's College London, said, "Another confounder is that quite a high proportion of the population might have also had a Covid episode in recent months."

"Some may erroneously feel that having had a complete primary course and then having fallen ill with Covid means they will remain immune," Reuters quoted Ward as saying.